Thank you Phil. That was the post I was reading immediately before I joined this group. It was part of your post.........

The boots were purchased and donated by The Birmingham Mail Christmas Tree Fund which was inaugurated in 1930 from charitable donations from the people of Birmingham. Thus by these means Birmingham was the first major city to eradicate shoeless children from its streets.

.... which threw me when I read the 1930 bit because I knew my parents would have been in their 20's then. However, you have cleared that up for me, thank you. What a lovely group this is!! 😎

hi Tricia Benn if your parents was like me they would have been happy to have boots I was not on my own a lot of kids in b/heath had them it was a different world then they called them the good old days was they hell if the kids today had to live like we did they would have a shock free school dinner for most of us it was the only hot dinner you got for that day now back to the boots if you had the choice of going to school in the winter in the snow with holes in your shoes and cardboard to try and keep you feet dry or a par of brand new boots that kept your feet dry and warm what would you have iv seen kids today sling shoes in the bin that we would have been grateful for and felt like the beez knees if we had them thanks to the mail I had boots

I never heard of this before, it was a great thing I guess for a good many people in the city and I am sure those who wore them were grateful and kept them in decent condition.I don't know whether I would have qualified as I did not live within the city's boundary. Anyway I always had brogue style shoes, the only pair of walking boots - as opposed to football/rugby boots - I ever had was when I joined the RAF. I had to wear them for 'square bashing' but once that was over and I was in pastures new, they were put to one side. My next boots were fireman's ones.

Hello Roy One. Oh yes, I had forgotten my father telling me about his shoes being lined with cardboard or sheets of newspaper that got absolutely sodden in the rain and snow! How I wish I had asked more questions and, more importantly, listened to what he told me - but I guess most of us say that (and our children will probably do the same when we've gone!). I've spent hours and hours and quite a few £££'s doing family history and absolutely no-one in the family is interested, so I guess it will go in the bin with all my other 'treasures' when I'm no longer around. But that's the way it goes I guess. Thank you for sharing your story Roy.

Well, that's interesting Potomac. Your life, as told through the shoes/boots you wore! I don't suppose people born outside Birmingham would have cause to know about the Birminham Mail Charity boots - although there must have been similar charities throughout the country. You only have to look at old photographs to realise most of the children went without shoes - but what a happy looking (if cheeky with it) lot they seemed to be. Bet your fireman's boots had quite a few interesting tales to tell.

hi Tricia Benn just a foot note to add a jumble sale was far and few between it was the church that held most of them you might get one every three months but when you did there would 100s of folk trying to get in if it started a 12 noon they would be there from 0900 to try and get to be the first in the hall and yes you might get shoes might be a bit big for you at the time but it was said you will grow in to them

I never heard of this before, it was a great thing I guess for a good many people in the city and I am sure those who wore them were grateful and kept them in decent condition.I don't know whether I would have qualified as I did not live within the city's boundary. Anyway I always had brogue style shoes, the only pair of walking boots - as opposed to football/rugby boots - I ever had was when I joined the RAF. I had to wear them for 'square bashing' but once that was over and I was in pastures new, they were put to one side. My next boots were fireman's ones.

Potomac

The photo below and others like it be would be the reason the Birmingham Mail decided to use part of the Funds collected under the banner of The Christmas Tree for providing some of the needier children of Birmingham with footwear.

Those youngster look very happy, Phil, despite their family hardships. It does not look like they had forced smiles.Now back in the so called swinging sixties (and that is a contentious debate in itself) there was a trend to walk barefoot by some foolish people. I often wondered how much busier the A&E departments were with self incurred foot injuries.

wellingtons had two usage's when they had hols in the bottoms and of no use they could be cut up and stuck to the bottom of your shoes the fore runner of the stick on soles

the thing about us kids in the late 40s and 50 we did not demand any thing we had no street cred to keep up with I think we was happy in our own way

for most of my young life colours and looking at different colours was my thing I would go in the park and look at the flowers and the trees and try and make the colours I had seen with my box of paints one xmas my dream come true I had a big box of water colour paints just about any colour you could think of was thereso with my mail boots and socks and my tin of paints under the bottom of my bed I was a happy lad it did not take much to make us kids happy I see today if kids have not got an £500 phone they are hard done by

Those youngster look very happy, Phil, despite their family hardships. It does not look like they had forced smiles.Now back in the so called swinging sixties (and that is a contentious debate in itself) there was a trend to walk barefoot by some foolish people. I often wondered how much busier the A&E departments were with self incurred foot injuries.

Potomac not as busy as Friday/ Saturday night nowadays after the pubs close I have to say, there wasn't as much mess on the floors back in the 60's